As the number of works of art increase and the ontology of these works evolve, challenges and increasing challenges are created in the cataloguing of such works. Conventional methods and devices provide labeling and cataloguing works of art. One conventional method includes manual cataloguing of works of art such as a printed publication or catalogue raisonné. Typically, individuals other than the artists themselves are responsible for provide information to describe the works of art for such catalogues. As such, conventional methods are susceptible to false or incomplete information and/or false credit may be provided for such works of art. Further, information associated with a particular work of art may not be aligned with the views of the artists for such works. Manual cataloguing is limited in its ability to provide information about a work of art. The ability to determine information related to the authors responsible for the entries is limited. Manually collecting information from each artist to describe works of art may be unpractical and inconsistent.
Another conventional method includes labeling actual works of art with identification markers. However, these methods are limited in the amount of data which may be attached to or associated with each work of art. Further, such methods do not provide a standard or secure process for accessing such data or for providing the data in a common or structured form. Additionally, these conventional methods assume that data associated with a particular work of art has and will be preserved. However, these assumptions may no longer be valid. Data provided by these conventional methods may be susceptible to error, loss, damage, corruption and fraud.
While conventional methods providing cataloguing of works of art, such methods struggle to meet the requirements for providing a secure, permanent, authoritative record of the work. Moreover, the information can be considered unreliable given the inconsistency of current collection methods.